The present invention refers to a microwave apparatus, and to a container for use in a microwave apparatus, in particular for heating, drying, disinfecting and/or sterilizing materials, objects, liquids or the like.
Microwave apparatuses are used for heating, disinfecting or sterilizing various materials such as i.a. refuse from hospitals, kitchen garbage etc. In order to prevent a burning of the material during microwaving, it is known to add liquid such as water, possibly together with disinfectants and/or odorants, to the material, e.g. by placing a separate liquid source, e.g. a bag of water with or without disinfectant and/or odorant, within the interior of the treatment chamber. This proposal allows only a fixed amount of water to be placed in the chamber before starting the microwaving and does not consider the type of material to be treated. This is disadvantageous because if the amount of water is too large, great energies for heating, disinfecting or sterilizing the material are wasted. Moreover, a large amount of liquid is retained, thus requiring a targeted disposal of increased amounts of liquids. Apart from that, the provision of large amounts of liquid prolong the treatment cycle, thus rendering the overall performance of the unit uneconomic. On the other hand, when the amount of liquid placed in the treatment chamber is too low, dry refuse or other material to be treated may ignite, resulting in a possible destruction of the unit.
In general, the material is placed in containers which are sufficiently transparent to microwaves to allow energy to pass through and to treat the material. With these containers, a particular treatment such as overpressure or underpressure treatment is, however, not possible.
European publication EP-A1 88 700 describes an apparatus in which a jar containing a food product is placed on a base and enclosed by a bell-shaped cover which is connectable to the base via a bayonet mount. This unit is placed in a microwave oven for heating. For limiting the maximum pressure within the enclosure during heating and for preventing entry of air during subsequent cooling, a pressure control check valve is provided at the top of the cover. GB-PS 1,269,606 describes a container with end walls which are detachably secured to the container via a bayonet mount and provided with respective openings which are closed by pressure relief valves. These containers, even though representing an improvement over conventional cookware generally employed in connection with microwave ovens, are still limited to their use and do not allow particular treatment of the material, monitoring of the material and monitoring of prevailing conditions within the container.